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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. degree — from a university
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cap — of ice
  5. clip — to cut
  6. safe — out of danger
  7. degree — an amount
  8. bark — to shout
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. cap — a lid
  11. safe — a strongbox
  12. last — final
  13. safe — out of danger
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. pitch — completely
  16. kid — child
  17. kid — to tease
  18. clip — a video
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. last — to go on
  22. cap — a hat
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. last — finally

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com